Dog ownership

Thank you "M"
Yes , we had to work round the issues, then she had a happy life,

One thing you all always ask your self is WHY is this in a resuce centre and ask lots of question

 

A young couple I know got a young rescue dog recently. There were no checks done at all. She settled in beautifully and became a happy little person only to be returned to the rescue place because the young couple decided she was taking up too much of their spare time. This makes me crazy! This poor pup has been passed around with no thought for it's well being and if it does end up becoming a problem dog who will be blamed?

 

I agree. A dog will only likely turn if it's been mistreated and not brought up correctly. I know there are exceptions but that seems to be he general rule of thumb

 

There should be a long decision-making period before a dog is brought home. All dogs need some degree of exercise, even 'lazy' breeds, and also play & socialisation. A bored dog can end up being a troublesome dog!

 

Any dog whether Pedigree or Rescue can turn at any time and attack children or adults

Bruce Fogle was on a doggy programme the other week and said the most common dog to bite people each year was a Labrador retreiver,one of the softest dogs known to man.

One of our friends in our village worked part time at a dog rescue centre and she rescued a collie when it was only six months old.The first day while her hubby was out the dog had my friend cornered in the kitchen and if my friend so much as moved a step to get out of the corner then the dog bared it's teeth at her.I don't know how she got out of the corner but they still have the dog {Maisy}three years later although when we see them out walking the owner will advise us not to wave our hands about or try to stroke the dog.She is the most beautiful dog to look at and you wouldn't think that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth,but I know one thing if it had been me she had in the corner baring her teeth she would have been back at the rescue centre the same day

We now have ten dogs surrounding us where we live and the large German shepherds{four of them. are the strongest ones and drag their owners round the village and they are only pups,so if when they are adults they decided to attack someone then the owners would really struggle to get them off of the victim as when fully grown these dogs are going to be like large bears.{I was brought up with shepherds so not knocking shepherds}

 

Your friend obviously saw the good things in that rescue dog!!

It sounds like those GSD's need to go to puppy school and teach them not to pull I hate hearing dogs straining on the lead, it sounds like they're choking :(

I've never been a fan of big dogs, after I was cornered by one on my way back from primary school one day. Ironically the only big dogs I do like are Labradors/Retrievers! I wouldn't go fussing a strange one of those either, though, you never know. Even if they think that play means "eat the nice person's arm" it can still come across as being aggressive

 

I have three dogs and they are all trained and socialized. Imho, a trained dog is a happy dog. The time spent with them, training them, teaches them that they are cared about and that they can trust you. It creates a good bond and far fewer bites and/or attacks are likely.
Having a dog is like raising a child. They are dependent on you, not only for food, love, warmth and security but also for making them socially acceptable.

 

I agree. We're going through the socialisation and training with Reggie (week 3 puppy school this evening!) and I can completely see the benefits. Some dogs that we meet out and about aren't as social, are very noisy and if any near me bare their teeth... I hate that. Also, where we used to live, lads would have entire male Staffies (a dog that can be lovely but because an idiot minority have them because they look a little like Pit Bulls... and ruin their reputation) who walk them off the lead, and who come bounding up to anyone, even young children, and face them off, barking. It's terrifying sometimes!! And then whose fault is it if the dog then bites someone... not the idiot who's not trained them!! Obviously the person attacked suffers, but the dog ultimately does, when it could have so easily been avoided with some love, attention, patience and perseverance.

 

Years ago a friend of mine acquired a rescue dog. She couldn't cope and the behaviour of the dog became more and more problematic until she finally had to take the difficult decision to have it put down. A distressing time for all involved.

I agree with Kandy, some dog owners seem unwilling or unable to control their dogs. Most of the time there is no harm done but it's clear to me that some people take their dogs out in to public spaces, let them charge around barking and would be completely incapable of stopping them if the need arose. Perhaps not much of an issue with small dogs but a serious problem with larger breeds.

 

Even though I loved, loved my well train GSD' s My motto was always, even with Lassie never a dog alone with a child.

 

All the checks in the world wont help if they don't trigger the dog's triggers so to speak.

With a rescue dog, it is impossible to know what might have happened to it before it was 'rescued'. There is no way of knowing what sort of mental associations it made following a bad experience. And therefore there is no way of knowing how a rescue case might react in any given situation.

You can make guesses having observed the dog's behaviour in certain situations, but you can never really know.

Some examples:

My first dog, when I was a kid I had a lovely border collie. She had been rescued from a horrible farmer who had been beating her and intended to drown her because she didn't cut it as a sheep dog. A friend of the family knew what was going on but when the authorities were slow to respond, she took matters into her own hands and liberated the dog. She knew I wanted a dog of my own so after consulting with my parents, it was agreed that said dog could be mine. I knew something of her background which is unusual in such cases, but there was still no way to be 100%, hence for the first few months my dad insisted on keeping an eye and not leaving me unattended with her (I was about 12 at that time, and experienced with animals, but even so). It quickly became apparent that she would flip if you walked up behind her. She would jump up, spin round, and have a go at you. Probably because people coming up from behind meant a boot was coming, but we can't be sure. We eventually taught her to trust people, and after many months she was a good pet, but there was one thing we couldn't train out of her. Her bitter hatred of cats. We don't know why, but she hated them. Not like most dogs that like to chase cats, she would turn into a psychotic raging beast at the very hint of one and I'm sure she would have killed one if she'd ever caught one.

My mam got a rescue dog. This one was an alsation. He was lovely. A proper big softy. Except for one day when he decided out of the blue that he would try to eat a golfer while on a walk past the golf course. He saw the golfer and didn't care, right up until said golfer raised his club ready to whack the ball (sufficiently distant such that dog probably didn't assume there was a threat to my mam, who was walking at the time). My mam said totally out of the blue he yanked so hard on the lead she nearly fell over, and it was all teeth and noise in the direction of the golfer. Had a previous owner hit him with sticks? Again we can only guess. He also got very aggressive if you called him 'flea bag'. You could call him any name you liked and he'd be just his usual jolly self, except if you called him 'flea bag', then you got a very serious warning.

My sister got a rescue dog. This one was a sort of greyhound/wippet/mongrel type thing. She was shy at first but soon became at ease around people. Until she saw me. She took one look at me and bolted in blind terror. It took about an hour of me sitting on the floor with my back to the door being as non-threatening as I could, before my sister finally managed to coax her back into the room. Did I look like someone who'd been horrible to her? She hadn't reacted like that with anyone else and animals don't normally react like that with me. What if instead of bolting, whatever random mental association had kicked in when she saw me had trigger an aggressive response? I could have been bitten a couple of times at least before overpowering and restraining the pooch. What if the response had been aggressive and instead of being a grown man, I was a 4 year old child, with my face at just the right height to meet the jaws?

In all three example, checks would have revealed nothing of concern before re-homing those dogs.

 

Totally agree!

Everyone compliments my Ozzy and says how wonderful he is: and he is! (Rescued just over one year ago and celebrated his 2nd birthday last week; just look at that beautiful smile of his )



But, as I pointed out to one of the trainers at Doggy School, I don't fool myself that he is the perfect dog: I simply haven't discovered (yet!) what his trigger might be

And that isn't just restricted to dogs: let's be fair we all have our snapping points and, depending on how well 'socialised' we have been brought up to be, dictates most of the time how we deal with our snapping point. For some it may be shouting out "Piffle!", for another it may be a little stronger, for another it may mean smashing a mug and so on and so on to differing degrees.

Personally, I think mandatory attendance at dog obedience classes for new dog owners would be far more beneficial than tightening legislation which only aims to deal with issues *after* the event! But, that will never happen.

 

This evening at puppy school, the trainer said don't leave your dog or puppy alone with a child. Some of the pups were being trained by children there. She said even though our pups are all lovely dogs, with young children you can never be sure; you can't 100% trust the dog, and you can't 100% trust the child not to pull, hit or otherwise annoy a normally placid dog

 

And that is a perfectly balanced view!

I still have the scars on my arm to prove that point.

When I was a 3-4yo, there was a really thick bush in our front garden. I watched a ginger cat jump into it and, being young and naïve, decided that I was going to stroke the cat. Seems the cat had other ideas. Now, I have no recollection of what I did, but a pound to a penny I must have done something because that cat sunk its teeth well and truly into my forearm! I do remember crying to my Dad with a bloody arm and I can still remember him telling me off for upsetting the cat But, he was quite right

 

Also I heard that with a toddler, the toddler's movements are different than a regular older child's gait and that can cause attention from a dog, which may or may not be good.

Story, --I would take my GSD everywhere with me, socializing etc. He had obedience title and was an ex seeing eye dog. And during the whole 9 years of his life never heard him growl one time. One day we are in the post office, a girl of about 16 years old comes in, and when she see my GSD (who was sitting quietly minding his business waiting for me to unload the post box) So when she see's him, she starts walking "weird" like in a slow style, and she says I'am afraid of dogs . My GSD, still sitting nicely, calmly, sets off a low growl. I just turned to her and said, quit walking weird. My GSD, still did not move from my side but certainly was wondering about her.

A dog, incorporates the norm in his head, that norm is expounded on as he/she experience the world and widened that it is a good norm. And that norm is accepted by him. But when the norm is slightly different, is when they take notice. Its all black and white to them and all about positive exposure. That is why socialization is so important, to just be out and about with them is so important. It took about 2 years after by last one passed before people stopped asking where my buddy was.